'Black Lightning': "Lawanda: The Book of Hope" Clips Released

The CW has released two new clips for "Lawanda: The Book of Hope", the second episode of Black Lightning's first season.

The first video takes us inside tonight's episode, which shows Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) facing the reality of Black Lightning's heroic rescue of the Pierce girls in the series premiere. In the clip, which you can watch above, Pierce is addressing a group of concerned parents and at Garfield High School when one woman, Lawanda White, is demanding answers as to why the hero rescued Jefferson's daughters, but not hers. The moment is uncomfortable for Jefferson, who was once Lawanda's teacher, but it also showed that it's not just Black Lightning who has a power. As executive producer Salim Akil explains, Lawanda has the power of a mother's love and it's equally as powerful as anything Black Lightning can do.

"What we wanted to talk about in this show was the idea of heroes not just having powers," Akil said. "Lawanda has a power and it's the power of motherhood and the power of the love of her daughter. She's trying to save her daughter and we'll see what happens with that but certainly if she goes up against The 100 she's putting herself in danger."

Of course, in the extended scene it's clear that Lawanda does find herself in harm's way. The clip reveals that Lawanda is killed trying to save her daughter and it's a death that finally pushes Jefferson to make a decision -- Black Lightning has to return. And it's not a decision that he takes lightly. As Akil explained, Jefferson struggles with the idea of going back to his heroic identity, especially as he considers his relationship with his own daughters as well as his ex-wife, Lynn.

"Jefferson is struggling with the idea of becoming Black Lightning again because he doesn't want to lose what he's built so far and that is a great relationship with Lynn and a great relationship with his daughters. Yes, superpowers can be great, but we also wanted to show that there were consequences to having these sorts of powers so he's really struggling with that."

Black Lightning airs Tuesdays at 9/8c following new episodes of The Flash on The CW.